about Clinton that was shown at the 1992 Democratic National Conven- tIon, which was itself choreographed largely by Harry. But after the couple co-chaired Clinton's first Inauguration their experience in the capital turned sour. Harry was embroiled in Travel- gate, and then in an infamous haircut, and the Thomasons soon almost dis- appeared from public view. Despite their exile from official Washington, their friendship with the Clintons en- dured-they spent every Thanksgiving at Camp David-and now they ea- gerly answered the First Lady's post- Lewinsky invitation. The Thomasons assert that they didn't play a substantive role in deter- mining political or legal strategy for the White House, but they did provide advice and moral support, along with their friendship. Even now, back in California, Thomason spends much of each day working his TV clicker, his Internet browser, and his telephone seeking the latest on the crisis. "I am obsessed by all of this," he told me. With Harold Ickes and Mickey Kantor, who were senior officials both in the 1992 campaign and in Clinton's first term, Thomason forms a trio of still active consiglieri. The Thomasons say that they came to Washington in 1992 as comparative naïfs but that their harsh reception gave them a swift edu- cation. And their view of the present crisis suggests that the White House will maintain its hard line-minimal coäperation with investigations, more attacks on Starr, and continued public silence from the President about the de- tails of his relationship with Lewinsky. Thomason said of his walk with the President on the night of his arrival, "After that conversation, I'm positive that nothing happened between him and Monica. But what was upsetting to me was that proving a negative is hard." Thomason had his own ideas. "I felt he had to go out and really deny it." And if the damage from Clinton's tentative performance with Jim Lehrer was to be repaired, the denial had to be made be- fore the State of the Union address, which was to be delivered less than a week later, on Tuesday, January 27th. . An opportunity presented itself that Monday. The President, accompanied by the First Lady, was scheduled to speak at a presentation on childcare policy in the Roosevelt Room of the White House. That event turned out to be a signal moment in Bill Clinton's public career, and, like several of the others-including his walk to Madison Square Garden during the 1992 Con- vention and his train ride across the Midwest before the 1996 Convention, in Chicago-it was stage-managed by Harry Thomason. At the conclusion of the childcare event, with Thomason in another room, watching the video feed, Clinton leaned over the lectern, clenched his jaws, and, pointing his finger for emphasis, delivered what are still his strongest words on the case. "} want you to listen to me," Clinton said to the live television audience. "I'm going to say this again. } did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky. I never told anybody to lie- not a single time, never. These allega- tions are false. And I need to go back to work for the American people." In tone, the President's statement- cogent, forceful, unequivocal-was ev- erything his earlier remarks were not. Harold Ickes credits Thomason with the delivery. "What's fascinating from a communications point of view is that if you look at the words Bill Clinton said the previous Wednesday and what he said on that Monday morning there's almost no difference," Ickes says. "He practically didn't say one new word. It was all in the demeanor and the em- phasis. There's no question that Harry was instrumental in that change." Thomason was pleased with the President's performance, although he says that one phrase bòthered him. "1 don't believe he meant to cal1 her , h ' " Th . d " B t at woman, omason sal. ut, with all the hullabaloo going on, her name just escaped him. I think he just blanked. It wasn't like he was saying something bad about her. From every- thing I heârd, she showed some prom- ise. I think she's probably a good hu- man being, perhaps searching for a father figure. I heard she would come by Betty Currie's desk and say how great he must be as a dad." I F the White House counsel's office served as the President's superego during the first month of the scandal, Harry Thomason was Clinton's id-the 29 . .' 0;; ::,j KNEELING GIRL by A. Santini An art nouveau companion piece to Eleganza's popular statues entitled Extase and Femme Eternelle. 12 1 /2" x 7" made from bonded marble... $154 ppd. Check, VISA, MC. Un- quaHfied guarantee. 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